Riser helped Marine Science Center flow

Nathan "Doc" Riser led Northeastern's Marine Science Center for seventeen years. Coincidentally, he also had seventeen species of microscopic marine worms named after him.

Such was the influence of the longtime marine biologist, who died in July at age eighty-six.

The Stanford-educated Riser came to Northeastern in 1957 as the chair of the biology department, after conducting teaching and research at Fisk University, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, and Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Ten years later, he became the first-ever director of the Marine Science Center, which, under his leadership, became a nationally recognized leader in education and research on marine organisms. Riser directed the center until his retirement in 1985.

Riser was also an adviser to the Stratton Commission on Marine Science, Engineering, and Resources in 1968, during the Johnson administration. One of the outcomes of the commission's work was the establishment of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Over the years, Riser described many new species of marine worms, and has had other new species named in his honor by students and colleagues.

Even after retirement, Riser kept working, studying numerous microorganisms of the Gulf of Maine region as well as New Zealand.

"He came in almost every day until the end of June," says Marine Science Center lab manager Ted Maney. "He was one of a kind—a traditional research biologist and naturalist.

"I don't think there's anybody here who can fill his shoes."

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